Forensic Nursing: A Concise Manual PDF

Preface

As nurses working in many areas of practice, it is inevitable that we come into contact with not only victims and families of violent crimes, injuries and fatalities, but also perpetrators, law enforcement, legal advocates, medical examiners, and many other community partners. Nurses have the unique ability to network with these partners in ways often overlooked by our profession and our partners. Nurses are at the forefront of evidence collection, preservation, and maintaining a chain of custody for law enforcement, testifying in a court of law, in injury cases and medicolegal cases. Administering care to victims of illness, accident, and injury is the commonly thought of and self-imposed role of nurses and the community. Imagine what kind of care could be given when assessment skills of the nurse are taken to a higher level. When a nurse becomes aware of what causes blunt force injuries, sharp force injuries, injuries related to child abuse, domestic violence, elder abuse and a host of others, she/he has taken their assessment skills to the next level, and is able to anticipate additional injuries. Lacerations are noted and documented with a new fervor; measurements taken, color noted, along with the location of the injury. The nurse begins to ask: "Does this injury fit the story?" Questions of why and how begin to emerge. What obvious evidence is there to collect and what potential evidence should be collected? Learning how to preserve the evidence, how to maintain proper chain of custody all take nursing assessment skills to a higher level. Have nurses ever considered how much valuable evidence is lost in hospitals that could be crucial to the legal system? Ask any law enforcement officer.

What alerts the nurse to strange markings on a pregnant woman admitted to deliver her baby? An area that is generally filled with the jubilance of birth can also contain victims of intimate partner violence. Returning a newborn and mother in a weakened condition to a violent situation can put an already fragile new mother and baby at an even greater risk.

Children who are seen in clinics as well as acute care settings with multiple bruises in uncommon areas and injuries or stories that do not necessarily match the injury are often victims of abuse. Most of these cases are missed by healthcare providers if they do not have some basic information available. This text was purposefully designed to be an introduction into the world of forensics; it can be both a useful, as well as an enlightening tool for nurses and others working in any area of the healthcare profession.

We offer our heartfelt gratitude to the contributing authors: Vincent J. M. Di Maio, MD and Teresa Di Maio, BSN, RN; Matthias I. Okoye, MD, JD; Erin Kimmerle, PhD; and Gary Plank.

And we extend special thanks to Lisa V. for her gracious nature and all her help with the computer aspects of this project. Sincere appreciation also goes to Becky McEldowney Masterman, senior acquisitions editor; Jill J. Jurgensen, senior project coordinator; Marsha Hecht, project editor; and Shayna Murry, graphic designer, Taylor & Francis/CRC Press, for all your support and guidance and a kind and gentle manner.